Soundtracks of a Life (11 page)

Chapter 16

Before we leave Paris to our next stop, Susan joins us again for the remainder of the European Tour. That was the end of the sneaking off for some alone time for Chris and I.

As we go deeper into this leg of the tour,
hoping from country to country, fatigue starts setting in for all of us. We had now been traveling and away from home for almost a year.  Our way of coping with this is to start joining Ted more and more often on his bar and club hopping escapades across Europe.

We are in Prague in the
Czech Republic, the last town of the European tour, enjoying ourselves in a hip club in town before we leave the next day to Asia. I’m standing alone in a corner of the club with my drink for company, the guys, all enjoying the company of girls, including Chris that is surrounded by them. That’s disturbing me immensely, more than ever before. While I’m wallowing in my jealousy, I don’t even notice when I get approached by a buff looking guy.

“You look like you could use a refill,” he says to me
in a deep voice. He then immediately gets the attention of a waitress and orders another drink for me. He is tall, tanned, with dark hair and light green eyes, very handsome and very European looking in his V-neck white muscle shirt reveling his tanned smooth chest.

“Thanks,” I say
smiling to him.

“You are the girl from the band Wildfire aren’t you? I was at your concert tonight. You rocked.” he
has a thick accent I can’t place where it is from.

“Thanks
I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I’m Nicko, by the way.”
He gives me the European greeting, a kiss on the cheek. I can’t help but notice that this gesture immediately gets the attention of Chris who is now staring at us.
Not so fun is it?
  I think to myself with a little joy.

“Lorelai.” I respond. “Where are you from?”

“Greece. I live in Athens, I’m here on business.”

“Nice.”

“Have you ever been to Greece?”

“No, I haven’t
and our tour is not going there but I hear it’s supposed to be a very nice place.”

“
If you would like, I have my private jet waiting for me to take me back. I could take you there, it’s a beautiful country it would suit such a beautiful woman.”

Now I’m thinking to myself,
who is this guy? You move fast Euro trash…,
but I just smile and say, “I’m sure it is but no thanks, I need to be in Tokyo tomorrow for our concert.”

“Ah…..pity.
Well we still have tonight,” he says to me with a flirty look in his face placing his body very close to mine pinning me against a column. Now I’m feeling very uncomfortable.

“
No I actually better get going… it was nice meeting you.” I say and try to walk away but his arm reaches over pulling me to him. He kisses me full on the lips. I push him away and am about to slap him but in that very same second Chris is in front of me and punches him right in the face. Nicko falls backwards to the floor, his nose bleeding. Big Bob immediately runs in next to me and Chris to protect us. Then another guy who looks like a body guard, (I don’t even know where he comes from), runs to Nicko and helps him get up. Once up Nicko yells, “Do you have any idea who I am?  You will pay for this!” He points his finger to Chris while using his other hand to hold the bleeding in his nose. Ted and James are holding Chris who is ready to lunge at Nicko again. A crowd has formed around us. Big Bob is ready to fight anyone who gets anywhere near any of us. The situation doesn’t look good. I turn to Nicko and say, “I’m sorry. The guys can get a bit brotherly about me. Please,” I look at him pleading, “just let it go.” He looks at me and then to Big Bog and then back at Chris, “You’re in luck, punk.” He says to him and then walks off angrily leaving the night club with his body guard.

We exit the club right after.  Big Bob puts the four of us into a taxi and follows us in another taxi.

Once safely inside the car James asks me, “Who was that guy?”

“I don’t know,” I respond. “Some wealthy Greek guy that started talking to me.” Chris is fuming next to me.

“You mean that you were flirting with,” Chris says with anger blazing in his eyes.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I respond
equally angry. “I said three words to the guy and I was walking away. And don’t even get me started! You’re not one to talk! I have to watch you all smiley with a bunch of girls throwing themselves at you on a daily basis, one guy approaches me and you want to give me shit?”

“I never kiss them! You kissed this guy,” he yells at me.

“I didn’t kiss him! He kissed me and I pushed him away! That’s totally different.” I yell back with the same intensity.

“And why would you go to him after I punched the idiot?” he says looking at me, betrayed.

“Because what you did is really stupid! We can’t go around punching rich guys we don’t know in a foreign country! Don’t you understand how much trouble we can get into? I don’t care how much your male ego was hurt. I was trying to make the situation go away.”

“If you hadn’t flirted with him I wouldn’t have needed to punch him,” he says to me as the taxi pulls into our hotel. I look at him
in disgust.

“Go to hell, Henderson!” I shout at him as I storm out of the car and into the hotel.

“Oh, oh she called you by your last name! You are in trouble dude,” Ted says jokingly. Chris gives him such an angry look that Ted stops laughing immediately.

Chapter 17

The next morning the car takes us to the airport where we board our Jet to take us on the long boring trip to Tokyo. No one brings up the subject of last night but you could feel it weighting in the air around us and even though it’s a long flight, everyone keeps to themselves. No one is feeling chatty.

Once we finally arrive
in Tokyo, we are hardly prepared for what is in store for us. The crowd of fans waiting for us at the airport is huge. There are thousands of screaming fans, like we have never seen before. It‘s crazy. Big Bob is hardly enough to deal with a crowd this size but luckily it’s big enough that the local security was provided to help.  From the airport a limo takes us directly to a TV studio where I would be interviewed on a popular local show.

The studio was big
and very high tech. The crew greeting us is very professional. We are directed to the show’s producer who immediately takes me to make-up to get prepped to go on camera, I’m sure after coming out from such a long flight I need help. When the time comes I am directed to the side of stage and I walk in when I hear my name called. The host bows, shakes my hand and greets me speaking in a very fast but strange version of English, I feel like I should be able to understand what he is saying but I don’t. The experience that follows is certainly a weird and different one. The host starts acting wacky while electronic dance music is piped into the studio. I see on the studio monitors that lots of colorful animations are appearing on the screen. The host starts blabbing away in Japanese and I don’t understand a word of what’s happening. I just stand there smiling and looking awkward. Behind the camera, in the darkened studio, I can see the guys having a great laugh at my expense but I try to ignore them. Finally, the host directs a question to me and the guy that is standing next to me translates it, or at least that’s what I think he is doing. The host speaks to me for what seems like ten minutes and all I get from the so called translation is a small question!
I’m sure that’s not all he said
, I think to myself.  I give my answer to what the translator said to me and hope for the best. That’s the way it goes for the rest of the questions except that a few more times during the interview the host would be speaking and then some more music and animations would come on. I don’t know what the hell that was all about, but whenever that happened I could see the guys break into the most ridiculous jig behind the cameras.  I had to muster all the strength I had to not just break out in laughter. I just pretend to clear my throat whenever I could feel myself losing it. I couldn’t wait for that whole thing, whatever it was, to be over!

When we leave the studio and get back to the car my suffering isn’t completely over as the guys can’t seem to get enough of mocking me.

“Susan,” Ted says from the farthest back seat in the limo “I’ll give you anything you want if you get me a copy of that show.” They are all laughing now.

“Oh man, that was freaking hilarious,” James adds between bouts of laughter.

“You can usually handle pretty well most things that are thrown at you but this was the most awkward I’ve ever seen you look!” Chris adds trying to contain his laughter.

“I didn’t know what was going on, the guy would wildly speak Japanese for long time then I would get a small question translated then a bunch of animated dancing kittens would come up in the monitor. I was just standing there with my best WTF look! I just gave up in end and focused on not laughing since you guys weren’t making my job any easier! Like the whole thing wasn’t surreal enough you had to add the most ridiculous dancing in the background.”

“What can we say Lori,” Ted says in between bouts of laughter. “The weirdness was contagious! We couldn’t help ourselves!” We are all laughing and I take it all good stride. I didn’t mind being mocked… when you are in a band everybody gets their turn ridding the mock train.

We arrive at the hotel and there is a
huge crowd of fans there too. We all wave and greet the fans but when Chris waves to the crowd, the high pitched screaming that comes from the girls is deafening! We manage to squeeze our way into the hotel while being blinded by camera flashes. Once we finally get inside we all look a bit flabbergasted. It’s a little unsettling having so many people screaming at us, even if it is out of love for us.

Once in the
quiet and calm lobby Susan pulls me away from the guys for a talk. She looks more serious now.

“I got an interesting e-mail from my assistant in LA,” she says to me, handing me her
IPad. I take a look at it and on the screen is a scan of a US tabloid reporting on the bar altercation in Prague. The article also makes a big deal of a love interest between Chris and me. As it turns out, Nicko is a wealthy, eligible bachelor often reported on the many gossip columns throughout Europe.  The regrettable scene between him, me and Chris immediately made the European press and from there it was picked up by the tabloids in the US who put their own spin on the story. Unfortunately for us, this time, they had the correct spin.

“You want to explain to m
e what’s going on?” she says once I’m done examining the article.

“We were in the club and this guy was a bit too forward with me, he tried to steal a kiss and I pushed him away. The next thing I know, the guys jump in to help and things got out of control,” I say using my best poker face.

“And by out of control, you mean Chris punched the guy.” She says fishing for some reaction from me.

“What part of this story is really upsetting you?” I say facing the problem head on
trying to make it seem like I didn’t care that much. She doesn’t answer right away so I take my opportunity.

“Going out with the guys is like going to a bar with your three big brothers. They certainly can get defensive about me. It was just a stupid bar brawl. You know how the press likes to “juicy” things up. You shouldn’t believe everything you read Susan.” I finish off, mockingly.

“You guys really need to tone down the partying.” She reprimands me and I feel relieved that she seems to be letting go of the issue for now.

“Absolutely,” I
agree breathing more easy now. I walk off and go join the guys again.

“What was that all about?” James asks me in a hushed voice when I return.

“She wanted to show me a tabloid reporting on the bar brawl in Prague the article was saying there is a love affair between me and Chris.” Chris looks at me surprised when I say that, he starts to speak to me but I cut him off.

“I don’t want to talk to you right now. You think I liked having to just tell Susan that you are like a brother to me? One thing is hiding our romance but it’s a whole other thing having to look in her eyes and flat out lie like that. She has been great to us. She has been great to me. I think of her like a friend. It wasn’t nice. Besides I see Tom is starting to suspect something. He would like nothing better than to get your job and you know it. Just leave me alone.” I finish angr
ily before he can say anything else I start heading off toward my room.

“I told you bro, it’s never good news when a chick uses your last name!” Ted says to Chris.

“Stop being a douche and cut him a break Ted.” James butts in. “But Lorelai is right Chris. “Tom is salivating to become a real member of the band. You two should be careful. If he gets the chance to trip you up I don’t doubt that he would.”

I
slide the key card and swing open the heavy wood door. The room is amazing, very modern, luxurious and spacious, especially for Japanese standards. The room is located in the upper floors of this big high rise building so the floor to ceiling windows give way to a beautiful view of Tokyo’s busy skyline.  The bathroom is something out of a space age movie. The toilet has so many buttons it makes me feel stupid. I never thought I would have difficulties operating a toilet.  It’s a toilet… how many buttons do you need in a freaking toilet? Apparently many! I press one button… the one with a little drawing of water jets, so maybe this is the flush? I let out a yelp as some jets of water come up from the toilet. Yikes! Not that one. I keep pressing the buttons. Now I’m having fun figuring out how many functions a toilet can have. Ohhh a seat warmer! Nice! Finally, I find the flush … aaah good old flush button, never thought I would be so happy to see you!

The bathroom was also equipped with a big Jacuzzi so I decide
to take a bath. I soak in the hot water, the jets massaging my skin. It feels like heaven to my tired sore body. Afterwards, I pass out on top of the heavenly down comforter and I fall asleep immediately. The jet leg is really brutal.

I wake up a couple of hours later to loud knocks on my door. I struggle to my feet
and make my way across the room. I open the door and Chris comes in.

“My mom’s surgery is scheduled,” he says immediately
before I can say anything. He has a deeply concerned expression troubling his face. “I’m leaving right after the concert tonight.”

“Oh.”
Is all I can muster, not sure what to say. I’m still in a haze from waking up.

“Sorry I acted like an ass,” he says now looking
at me embarrassed. “I got jealous.  I know you weren’t flirting with that guy and I saw you walk away and then push him back. It wasn’t your fault. But seeing him kiss you made me so jealous that I just wanted to be angry at you.”

“It’s okay
… I only gave him the time of day because I was so jealous of you surrounded by all those girls.” Chris takes me in his arms and we hold each other silently for a while. It feels good. Now that the altercation was behind us and I’m basking in the warmth of his embrace the whole episode seemed extremely idiotic to me. How could we let something so stupid get between us?

“I wish we had some time to be together,” he gives me a smile and then kisses me. “Like we should have some make up sex now.” I look in his deep blue eyes as he gives me a boyish grin, you could tell that that thought almost cleared the troubles from his mind. I look at my watch.

“Holy crap I slept a lot. We need to get outta here!”

“Yeah, unfortunately it’s time for us to go to the arena. We have to meet at the lobby in twenty minutes. You better get dressed to go.”

When we are all ready to go, we brave a crowd of fans getting out of the hotel and enter the car that’s taking us to the arena. Throughout the whole drive there we listen to Ted marvel about how he wants to buy one of those fantastic toilets. We arrive and walk towards where the stage is already set, we look around the empty arena in marvel, it’s one of the biggest places we’ve played so far. Just being there was extremely exciting. We take our place in the stage and complete the sound check and then gather up backstage where we grab a little something to eat from the dinner provided by our catering company. We never eat much before the concerts as eating a big meal and going to do a concert would be the equivalent of eating a huge pasta dinner and going to the gym right after to exercise. We usually just have a few snacks and then eat after the concert.

After we are done we are then lead to another room backstage where
we do the mandatory meet and greet with a group of fans that had won some promotion. We chat, take pictures with them and sign autographs until a crew member comes in and escorts the fans back to the arena to go to their seats.

I’m walking back to the dressing room, i
t’s close to the concert time now and usually by this time you can hear the buzzing of the crowd gathering up inside the arena, excitedly waiting for the concert. This time though, it is quiet, too quiet for an arena that big. Now I’m wondering if no one came to see the concert. I’m starting to picture us playing to just a few people here and there in a mostly empty place. Even though it sounds crazy I start to freak out. I see one of the crew guys coming back from setting the equipment on the stage.

“Hey, is there anyone out there?” I ask him
feeling a bit stupid.

“Yeah the place is packed.” He answers
laughing.

“It’s too quiet, it can’t be!”

“It is! They are just quietly waiting for the concert.”

I had to see it with my own eyes to believe it. I take a peek and can’t believe it, it was filled with people! Go figure!

Once the show starts though, people are excited, cheering and having fun. There is nothing like the stage to make you feel at home virtually anywhere in the world.

After the concert
is over, Chris doesn’t even go back to the hotel with us. He has a car waiting for him outside the arena to take him directly to Tokyo International Airport where he will be taking a commercial flight back to LA. There is so much I want to say to him but I don’t get the chance. Why did we have to have that stupid fight anyway? We all say goodbye to him and wish him good luck. He climbs into the car, the door slams and the car speeds off into the night.

Back at the hotel,
I try to put it all out of my mind and get some rest but I can’t sleep. The time change has thrown me off kilter. I sit by one of the big windows in my room and watch the city lights, down below very small cars and people are coming and going in a constant stream. The motion keeps my eyes busy while my mind wanders far away. I think about Chris and his mom for a while. I’m worried about them. I’m also feeling tired and starting to feel like I want this tour to be over. I want to go home. The word ‘home’ leaves me with a bitter taste though. I ponder on that for a while, going back home… what was I really going back home to? The guys would go back to their family and friends and I would go back to being alone. To add insult to injury, the end of the year is near and I would have to endure another Christmas time alone. I guess I should consider myself lucky. At least this time, because of the tour, I didn’t have to suffer the “Spirit of Christmas” for a whole month like usual.